ZipDial: Reaching The Next 3 Billion Consumers SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of ZipDial: Reaching The Next 3 Billion Consumers
In early 2014, Sanjay Swamy and Valerie Rozycki Wagoner, respectively chairman and CEO of ZipDial, were discussing the possibility of extending the company's operations to Indonesia and the Philippines, two key markets in Southeast Asia. Having successfully rolled out ZipDial solutions in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka - from their primary market in India - they planned to accelerate expansion into selected markets in the region. Through its proprietary technology platform, ZipDial enabled brands in emerging markets to create, track and manage mobile marketing campaigns, engaging hundreds of millions of consumers who were otherwise unconnected. Building on its user database, the company created engagement opportunities based on user profiles that marketers could leverage to deliver targeted advertising messages. Although poised to take advantage of the continued growth in mobile adoption, the company faced a number of challenges. At a time when India's mobile technology landscape had started to consolidate and new competitors had entered the mobile advertising market, the need to find new sources of financing to support its operations and expansion plans was becoming more pressing. The case traces the evolution of ZipDial since its inception in 2010 as India's first mobile marketing and analytics company. It offers an overview of the latest developments and current strategy, including its approach to bridging the offline-online world through innovative marketing solutions and partnerships with social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.
Swot Analysis of "ZipDial: Reaching The Next 3 Billion Consumers" written by Jesper Sorensen, Laurent De Clara includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Zipdial Mobile facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in ZipDial: Reaching The Next 3 Billion Consumers case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Business models, Disruptive innovation, Emerging markets, Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Technology and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the ZipDial: Reaching The Next 3 Billion Consumers casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, increasing energy prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
technology disruption, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of ZipDial: Reaching The Next 3 Billion Consumers
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in ZipDial: Reaching The Next 3 Billion Consumers case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Zipdial Mobile, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Zipdial Mobile operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of ZipDial: Reaching The Next 3 Billion Consumers can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in ZipDial: Reaching The Next 3 Billion Consumers case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Zipdial Mobile
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field.
4. Making a Innovation & Entrepreneurship topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Zipdial Mobile
Strengths ZipDial: Reaching The Next 3 Billion Consumers | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Zipdial Mobile in ZipDial: Reaching The Next 3 Billion Consumers Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Zipdial Mobile in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Analytics focus
– Zipdial Mobile is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by Jesper Sorensen, Laurent De Clara can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Zipdial Mobile are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Ability to lead change in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field
– Zipdial Mobile is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Zipdial Mobile in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Zipdial Mobile in the sector have low bargaining power. ZipDial: Reaching The Next 3 Billion Consumers has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Zipdial Mobile to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High brand equity
– Zipdial Mobile has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Zipdial Mobile to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Zipdial Mobile has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Zipdial Mobile has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study ZipDial: Reaching The Next 3 Billion Consumers - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the ZipDial: Reaching The Next 3 Billion Consumers Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Innovation driven organization
– Zipdial Mobile is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in ZipDial: Reaching The Next 3 Billion Consumers Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Zipdial Mobile has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Zipdial Mobile has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– ZipDial: Reaching The Next 3 Billion Consumers firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Zipdial Mobile to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Zipdial Mobile to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses ZipDial: Reaching The Next 3 Billion Consumers | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of ZipDial: Reaching The Next 3 Billion Consumers are -
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study ZipDial: Reaching The Next 3 Billion Consumers, it seems that the employees of Zipdial Mobile don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study ZipDial: Reaching The Next 3 Billion Consumers, is just above the industry average. Zipdial Mobile needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Zipdial Mobile has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Zipdial Mobile even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the ZipDial: Reaching The Next 3 Billion Consumers HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Zipdial Mobile has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As ZipDial: Reaching The Next 3 Billion Consumers HBR case study mentions - Zipdial Mobile takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Zipdial Mobile needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Zipdial Mobile has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Jesper Sorensen, Laurent De Clara suggests that, Zipdial Mobile is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Need for greater diversity
– Zipdial Mobile has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Zipdial Mobile has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Zipdial Mobile is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Zipdial Mobile needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Zipdial Mobile to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Opportunities ZipDial: Reaching The Next 3 Billion Consumers | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study ZipDial: Reaching The Next 3 Billion Consumers are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Zipdial Mobile to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Zipdial Mobile to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Zipdial Mobile to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Developing new processes and practices
– Zipdial Mobile can develop new processes and procedures in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Zipdial Mobile can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Zipdial Mobile can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Zipdial Mobile to increase its market reach. Zipdial Mobile will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Loyalty marketing
– Zipdial Mobile has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Zipdial Mobile has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Zipdial Mobile to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the ZipDial: Reaching The Next 3 Billion Consumers case study. Zipdial Mobile can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Buying journey improvements
– Zipdial Mobile can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. ZipDial: Reaching The Next 3 Billion Consumers suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Zipdial Mobile can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Zipdial Mobile can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Zipdial Mobile can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Zipdial Mobile can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Zipdial Mobile can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, ZipDial: Reaching The Next 3 Billion Consumers, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats ZipDial: Reaching The Next 3 Billion Consumers External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study ZipDial: Reaching The Next 3 Billion Consumers are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Zipdial Mobile can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study ZipDial: Reaching The Next 3 Billion Consumers .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Zipdial Mobile with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Zipdial Mobile demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study ZipDial: Reaching The Next 3 Billion Consumers, Zipdial Mobile may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Innovation & Entrepreneurship .
Regulatory challenges
– Zipdial Mobile needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry regulations.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Zipdial Mobile in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Zipdial Mobile is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Zipdial Mobile will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Environmental challenges
– Zipdial Mobile needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Zipdial Mobile can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Zipdial Mobile needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Zipdial Mobile can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of ZipDial: Reaching The Next 3 Billion Consumers Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study ZipDial: Reaching The Next 3 Billion Consumers needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study ZipDial: Reaching The Next 3 Billion Consumers is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study ZipDial: Reaching The Next 3 Billion Consumers is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of ZipDial: Reaching The Next 3 Billion Consumers is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Zipdial Mobile needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.